Using EEG in a usability test of a survey
We all know that people will give up on surveys if they are too long or too boring. But exactly how long is too long? Exactly how boring is too boring?
One of my most fascinating clients is Kantar, the market research and insight part of WPP. This is a giant business; Kantar conducts 77 million interviews a year, 34 million online. And that’s not 34 million people interacting with one single web site, it’s samples interacting with many, many questionnaires. My very conservative estimate is that there must be a minimum of 50,000 different questionnaires used each year.
Tomorrow: 50% off Design Is the Problem
This week’s Wacky Wednesday deal: half off Nathan Shedroff’s Design Is the Problem, the leading text on designing products that are sustainable. The deal runs from 12:01am until midnight, GMT-5. We’ll tweet out the discount code from the @rosenfeldmedia Twitter account a few times during the day. Please spread the word!
Ten tips for a better survey, UX Bristol
Bristol is a lively city, the effective capital of the south west of the UK. Its wealth originally came from trade – rather unfortunately, considerably from the slave trade – but these days it’s mostly about aerospace, electronics and creative media.
The Bristol Usability Group has been networking and holding evening meetings for a while now, and they decided to take the next big step and hold a one-day conference, UX Bristol.
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Bruce Lee, I need your help
Updated, September 13: The winner of our August book: Nate Burgos (@designfeast) for sending support Steve Portigal’s way. Finish that book, Steve; thanks Nate!
Imagine trying to have a long, detailed conversation with a stranger that you’ll never meet. The stranger may be far away from you—in time as well as in distance. Worse, you have to squeeze your conversation into the tiny open spaces you have between your professional and personal obligations.
Now you know why writing a book is so hard, even for a successful, experienced author like Sunni Brown:
As of this moment, there are 17 authors working on new Rosenfeld Media books (we’ll announce one more very soon). All of our authors could use some encouragement, and you can help. Here’s how:
Choose one of our books-in-progress. Then tweet why you’re looking forward to their book. If you can, include the author’s twitter ID (here’s a list). And include the hash tag #RMgo. Here are two examples:
Getting nervous about lawsuits: really need that web accessibility book from @whitneyq & @gradualclearing. #RMgo (that’s 112 characters)
Loved @ugleah’s UX team of one workshop; could really use the book! #RMgo (73 characters)
Do it as many times as you like. Each tweet will serve as your entry into a monthly free book-giveaway. We’ll announce winners on the @rosenfeldmedia Twitter feed and in our newsletter, the Rosenfeld Review. It’s that simple.
Thanks for your help!
UX workshops in Seattle, London, and Washington DC
Though we’re known as a book publisher, we like to think of ourselves as being in the business of providing UX expertise. Along those lines, we’re expanding our UX workshop tour this fall.
The tour features these great Rosenfeld Media authors: Indi Young will present on Mental Models in DC, Steve Portigal on Interviewing Users in Seattle, and Anders Ramsay on Designing with Agile in London (where registration doesn’t go live until August 3).
And old standbys Steve Krug and Lou Rosenfeld will visit all three cities, and cover Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing and Adaptable Information Architecture respectively.
The UX workshop market is getting ever more crowded, but people tell us that ours are as intimate, engaging, and practical as they get. We hope you’ll agree. And, given the competition, we’ve lowered our prices.
So, great workshops and a great deal. Will we see you there?
Tomorrow: 50% off Web Form Design
This week’s Wacky Wednesday deal: half off Luke Wroblewski’s classic book, Web Form Design, from 12:01am until midnight, GMT-5. We’ll tweet out the discount code from the @rosenfeldmedia Twitter account a few times during the day. Enjoy
Now on sale: Search Analytics for Your Site
We’re pleased to announce that Search Analytics for Your Site, Lou Rosenfeld’s new book, is now available via our site, Amazon, and O’Reilly.
Survey book of the month, June 2011
It’s been a crazy busy month, with wonderful, challenging work to do – but no time to make progress on The Book. I was determined not to let a month go by without a book selection, so I was extra pleased that I had a really short, easy read waiting for you.
Developing a Questionnaire by Bill Gillham (2nd edition, 2008)
Our fearless leader on publishing business models
Lou’s posted his slides for the
talk he’ll give at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing conference (February 15 in New York City). Discuss.
And say hello to Lou if you’re at the conference.
Take a quick survey; win a free book?
Call us crazy, but we suspect that there is a growing demand for UX workshops to be taught in-house inside large organizations. We’re exploring connecting our authors and other UX experts with that demand—assuming it’s real.
Would you help us find out? To learn more, we’ve created a really short survey—no required questions—that will take you perhaps a minute to complete. Do so no later than July 7 and you’ll be eligible to win one of five free Rosenfeld Media books.
Thanks for your help!
